


Ailes Coupées

by Mikamod



Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Season/Series 01, The Brights need a hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-10
Updated: 2019-10-10
Packaged: 2020-11-28 17:29:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20970323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mikamod/pseuds/Mikamod
Summary: It's been a year since Malcolm had last seen his father, a good year, a year walking toward recovery with his daughter and their family.Nothing can be that good in the Bright's life





	Ailes Coupées

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place a year after Season 1, and since we are 3 episodes in there will a lack of concrete information. Unless the season makes this unreadable I don't plan to rewrite it.
> 
> Also thank you to SpartanLady16 on the server for the help with the school stuff since I only know public school stuff.

These scenes were always hard, Malcolm thought, a young girl, _another_ young girl the fifth, lay under the white sheet. While her bones had been broken, rather brutally but the care given to the body afterword was meticulous her hair and body had been cleaned, same as the other girls, dressed in what looked like very expensive burial cloths. 

Regret, the suspect took care of the bodies. Showed care to them after their lives were ripped away from them.

He looked at the shroud and had to force himself not to see a familiar freckled face.

-line-

Malcolm looked at the board of photos the victims, five so far had progressively gotten younger. The first had been nineteen, Linda Wayne, then a sixteen-year-old, Katey Howeel, followed by fifteen-year-old, Macey James, two twelve-year-olds, Joanna Carlos and Eva Ling, and an eleven-year-old, Jamie Cruisic. A nine-year-old, Lisa Carson was missing now and had been for a week. 

While the ages decreased the precision of the killer, a woman. He was sure a man with children that age would draw attention at the slightest, had increased. Crudely shattered bones gave way to clean breaks, an overdose of Tylenol gave way to a sedative. Crueler treatment but a more gentle death. Did she regret hurting the kids? They had been cleaned and groomed, covered and laid out with some reverence, not just dumped, which showed some regret.

Then there were the times the bodies were found, which informed when they were dumped. They coincided with school, so the person either had a child in school or worked for the school. If they _ worked_ in schools than the children wouldn’t think twice about going with them. The only problem was all the kids went to different schools in different areas. 

They had one day, going by the pattern until the next child was kidnapped and Lisa Carson was murdered. 

“We got a match!” JT burst into the room putting up a picture of a young woman, blond with false happiness in dull brown eyes. “Luren Reming, a substitute teacher. She’s currently working at- Rosewood Montessori.”

“Th-” His phone started to ring displaying Ainsley’s name, he looked at the time, school was getting out so she must be picking up Murphy, so there shouldn’t be a re- No, no. “Ainsley tell me you have Murphy.”

There was silence on the other line. “One of her friends told me she had stayed behind to help a teacher but I went to go get her but she’s not here her or the teacher. A Mr-”

“Reming.”

Ainsley’s voice cracked. “Oh god, the kids. Reming is the serial.”

“I need to go.” He hung up before she could say anything else. Dani and JT were staring at him, worry clear as day, Gil took a step closer like he was concerned that Malcolm might do something that would end in injury. “She’s got Murphy, what else do we know?”

“Not much but I’ll get the search on her data expedited.” Dani was gone, moving with purpose. 

“I’ll put out an APD on Reming and an Amber alert for Murphy.” JT was out a second later

Malcolm could feel his hands shake, hell it felt like his hold body was shaking, vibrating rejecting the horrible truth of what was happening.  
“We will find her MalcolmDifferent.” Gil made him look at the older detective, a rare move to force eye contact between the two. “We will find her but I need that brain of yours to help.”

Malcolm nodded, taking a deep breath and strength from Gil, using both to ground himself. Looking back at the board, remapping the sites where they found the body. He couldn’t find any connection besides that they were all female, obviously different ages, different races, financial backgrounds.

… Their home lives.

“What do we know about the girl's parents.”

“Wayne, James, Ling, and Carson all from a single-parent home, just a father. While Carlos, Howeel, and Cruisic have separated parents with shared custody but the-”

“The father has primary custody.”

Girls who primarily lived alone with their father. That’s the victimology, combine that with opportunity and ease of access. 

“We need her inf-”

Dani came in with a sour look, “Guess who Reming has been visiting?”

“Martin Whitly?” He offered up. 

“Malcolm-” Gil started. 

“I’m going to go talk to him.” And Malcolm would be damned if anyone stopped him if it would help find his child.

-Line-

Martin was ‘reading’ one of the books he’s already read before when a ruckus outside his cell pulled him away from the text, to see a furious Malcolm nearly ripping the door open, he didn’t even give the guard time to properly get in the door. It had been a year since he had last seen Malcolm and his boy looked, somehow, healthier and more on edge than he ever had.

“Luren Reming.” His son announced with barely concealed rage.

“Oh, I’ve gotten some letters from her, troubled woman.” He offered, knowing that Luren had spoken about murdering someone, and that might be why his boy was here and he would like to extend that time.

“What did she tell you? She visited here a week ago and two months ago.” 

Oh did his boy truly think that he would give up the information or his time with him that easily?

“It wasn’t much her father was dying of a heart condi-” He acted surprised. “Oh has she done something?”

Malcolm’s hands were trembling. “What’s wrong my boy?”

“She’s killed, five people.”

“Those me-”

“Children” Malcolm corrected and that was a bit of a surprise but not wholly unexpected.

“Oh, that's rather sad, one would think she would go after me-” 

There something snapped in his boy, any sort of attempt at calmness was gone vanished in a flash

“Reming has murder five children and she has another child!” Malcolm pointed out, an accusing finger pointed at Martin.

Nothing could have prepared Martin for what Malcolm shouted next full of rage, full of panic and fury, fire in his eyes.

“My child!”

Malcolm had a child? Why hadn’t his son told him? Martin paused for a moment, thinking over the new information.

“Now where would Reming take these kids?” 

“There is a house on Staten Island, her childhood home. Her father drunkenly pushed her sister down the stairs.” Martin gave up the information willingly, partly from the shock of the news and because as _new_ as this member of his family was they were still _his_.

Malcolm turned to leave.

“My grandchild.”

Malcolm was still walking, nearly running, away, “Malcolm what’s their name? How old are they?”

He called after his son, wanting the smallest scrap of information on this new person in his family

-Line-  
Malcolm had called Gil before he’d been fully out of his father's cell, ignoring the man’s questions about Murphy. 

He pulled up to the address they had dug up, jogging towards the taped off crime scene, the lights of every vehicle flashed around him, sirens splitting the air as it came into view.

He ran forward the moment the body, draped with the white sheet that shielded the dead from prying eyes, had become visible. He collided into a person, a black uniform, the other pushing him back, a voice barely registers as he tried to get to his girl. 

His mind producing what he imagined where his daughter’s screams of pain, her calling for him to come and save her, how scared she must have been as she slowly slipped away. 

He heard screaming and someone shouting questions about the body, it took the fact that his throat was starting to hurt to realize that it was him, he was making that inhuman screaming. 

“BRIGHT!!” 

JT, it was JT that was pulling him away from the cop, trying to get through to him. “It’s not Murphy, Gil has Murphy, they are stabilizing her to move her out of the house.”

Malcolm was off like a bullet, down the stairs to see Dani and Gil holding Murphy, Gil in front holding her hands, Dani behind her supporting her to stay seated, though it might be to keep her from moving too much. He could hear the older detective talking to Murphy in the voice Malcolm knew Gil used to comfort kids, used to comfort him when he had been a child. “She’s gone Murphy, you’re safe. I’ve got you, Dani’s got you, We’re here to keep you safe.” Dani was running her hand up and down Murphy’s arm, one of the woman’s go-to ways of offering comfort. 

He looked down at the mess of blood where his daughter’s leg from the knee down should be. The other girls had their ankles hobbled, their shinbone fractured and their kneecaps shattered first, they wouldn’t be able to get away as Reming waited to recreated her sister’s death.

“Daddy!” Murphy cried out clearly in pain. Gil moved aside to let Malcolm take his place. “It hurts so much.” She whimpered 

“I know, Little Bird.” He smoothed back her wild hair.

“I wanna go home, I don’t want to be here!” She tried to get up but between him and Dani, they were able to keep her still. They didn’t know the full extent of the injuries to her leg or if there were internal injuries to worry about.

“You will some medics are going to help us take you out of here.” He assured her as more steps echoed down the stairs, paramedics showing up in the side of his vision, the woman nodded to Murphy telling him to keep talking.

“Okay Little Bird,” He noted the local anesthetic in her hand, they were going to numb the leg so she wouldn’t feel it as much when they stabilized her leg and carried her upstairs. “I need you to focus on me and aunt Dani.” 

She tried to look at her leg and Dani stopped her. “You said yesterday that you had a surprise for you dad.” She said directing Murphy’s attention back to him, keeping her attention away from what the paramedics were doing.

“What surprise?” 

“I-” She whined as the needle slide into her leg to numb it. “I found an old book about birds that I thought you might like.” 

“That would be a very good gift, Murph.” He put his hand on her cheek, keeping her gaze on her. “How did you find it?”

She squirmed as they wrapped her leg so it wouldn’t move or break any more than it was. “Come on little bird.”

“Aunt Edrisa took me to the City Library and we saw a book by the author about reptiles, and I looked up that he wrote another book about birds, all the artwork is hand-drawn in the older copies.” 

The medics gave him a thumbs up, “Okay Little Bird, we’re going to get you out, first we pick you up and put you on the board.”

The paramedics lifted her, Malcolm still holding her hand her whimper breaking his heart, he climbed up the stairs first so he could be there when she came up, Dani taking up the rear as they got her into the back of the ambulance. 

Malcolm kept a hold of her hand, kept holding on until he was forced to let go at the hospital.

-line-

Murphy woke up slowly, first hearing the beep of a heart monitor, the cold air and the warmth of a hand holding hers.

“Dad?”

She looked over to see her dad on her right side. He was passed out but more exhausted than she’d ever seen him. She ran her hand over his hair, noting how untidy it was something she didn’t often see even in the mornings. 

“Murphy sweetheart, you’re awake.” Her grandmother walked in with Celia by her side, she didn’t see her mother often, and while she knew Celia cared it didn’t feel like a parent’s care, maybe an older sibling or a distant aunt, but Murphy was still happy to see her.

Her mother smiled at her brushing back her hair. “You’re safe now.”

Her dad was up a second later, and she curled into his arms as well as she could with her leg immobilized. “Murphy, You’re safe and I’m here.” He smoothed her hair in the way she found comforting and she couldn’t help but cry into his shirt.

“You’ll be okay dear, I promise you’ll be okay.”

And she believed him because her dad would never lie to her.

-line-

Martin smiled at the folder that had been passed to him, a copy of a case report of one Luren Reming, out fell a photograph.

His boy asleep hunched over a hospital bed no doubt driven to exhaustion by his worry, holding the hand of a little girl, no more than eight or nine. Whitly brown hair spread around her, a rather cute nose and face speckled with freckles, clearly given to her by whoever the girl's mother was. His first grandchild, he wondered about her, was she bright and bubbly, a bookworm? He needed to know more. 

Two words were written on the back: Murphy Bright.

That would do _ for now_.

**Author's Note:**

> Soooo Thank you for reading this and I will be back with Little Black Bird shortly to hopefully heal some of the feels I made.


End file.
